RWBY 8 8 - A Blade, Most Bloody
by Darkpenn
Summary: Ruby and Weiss fight to protect what is most precious


**A Blade, Most Bloody**

 _Ruby and Weiss fight to protect what is most precious_

 _[Author's Note: This story follows the story_ Fighting the Fire _, and is the eighth episode of Volume 8.]_

The explosion echoed around the cave. The door of the inner chamber fell off its hinges. Adam Taurus walked through the smoke and dust. He stood next to the relic of Knowledge.

"So you are the all-seeing, all-knowing … lamp," he said. "What do you have to tell me about my future?"

The relic said nothing.

"Huh," he said. He took the mirror from his pocket and pressed the symbols on the back in a particular order.

The image of Salem appeared.

"I have it," he said. "The real one."

"Show me," said Salem.

He turned the mirror so Salem could see the relic.

"Bring it to me," she said.

"Not so fast," he said. "Our deal still holds, right?"

"That I will cease to hunt your friends?" she said. "Yes, that was our agreement. Really, they mean little, in the larger scheme."

"And the other part of the deal was … that they would never find out."

Salem gave what passed, for her, as a shrug. "It is nothing to me," she said.

Adam took out the stone and conjured a portal. He could see, in the mirror, the room where Salem was.

He stepped through. He handed the relic to her. "Here, take it and be done with it," he said.

She took it and placed it on a table.

"And now, your payment," she said. She raised her hand.

He backed away. "No," he said. "We … we had a deal."

"Yes, we did. And I intend to honour it. You friends will live as long as everyone else – which is actually not going to be long. But our agreement did not extend to you. I would like to know, however, why you wanted them spared."

"Because … because … because I … I … " he stammered. He fell silent, as if surprised at what he had almost said.

"Ah," said Salem. "Another case of love. It makes you weak, you people."

Adam began to draw his sword. But Salem was too fast. She fired a bolt of dark energy directly into his chest. He gasped, and went down, dead.

"And it makes you all fools," said Salem to the body. "Think of the irony. Your doom was brought about by the one act that you might have considered decent in your whole pathetic life."

She sat down on her throne. Her wounded arm had begun to bleed again. And she had been unable to remove the bullet lodged in her shoulder; it was causing her a great deal of discomfort. Perhaps it had a touch of magic in it, she mused.

She considered her position. Under other circumstances, the loss of her army on Sanus, including the hybrid that had required considerable magic to create as well as the sacrifice of her servant van der Twitch, would have been a cause for some regret. But now it did not matter much.

Even with the game drawing to its conclusion, she felt that she had not yet inflicted enough pain on her enemies, that team of young women. She reflected on the information gained by seeing through the eyes of her creatures spread across Remnant. Who should be next? The fellow who made the cakes? The mother of the cat faunus girl? That very large fellow with the very large sword? What would cause them the most grief?

And then it came to her.

"The baby," she said to herself.

RWBY

"Yang and Blake think they have a good lead on the location of Sodor," said Ruby, as she signed off on her scroll. "They're on their way back now."

"That's good," said Weiss. "Because there is nothing in these old books, and I'm sick of reading them."

They were in the library of Mantle Academy. After hours of fruitless searching they felt they deserved a break.

Weiss' scroll buzzed. It was Winter, inviting them to meet her, Qrow and Magpie at The Cake Butler. Weiss readily agreed.

They were almost there when they received another call from Winter.

"It's Salem!" she said. "She's here! Qrow is fighting Tyrian Callows but … I don't know if he can win. I … I think that Salem is after Magpie!"

Weiss and Ruby broke into a run.

"We're almost there!" said Weiss into the scroll. "Thirty seconds!"

"We might not have thirty seconds," said Winter.

"Then run! Find a place to hide! In the back there's a staircase that leads to the roof! Get to it!"

In the café, Qrow was locked in combat with Tyrian. Qrow was trying to protect his wife and child, but doing so limited his mobility.

Salem threw a bolt that knocked Qrow down, and sent his sword sliding away. "Tyrian, this is entertaining enough, it's true, but finish it now," said Salem.

"With pleasure," said Tyrian, with a psychotic giggle. He lifted his wrist blades –

There was a _klong!_ as Klein hit Tyrian on the head from behind, with a heavy frypan.

Slowly, Tyrian turned to face him. "A … a cooking … thing!?" he said.

"I didn't think you deserved a proper weapon," said Klein.

Tyrian punched out, with enough force to send Klein flying into a wall. He slumped down, unconscious.

But Qrow had taken the opportunity to get to Winter and Magpie, and the three of them ran for the stairs.

Ruby and Weiss burst in.

"Ah, just who I was hoping to see," said Salem. "I want you to know that in a few moments the baby will be a small pile of ashes. Tyrian, you may kill the one with white hair. As for the other one, just wound her. Badly, if you like. But I want her alive." She turned and went up the stairs.

Tyrian faced them. He said: "To make this more fun – for me, I mean – I will even give you the first – "

Ruby was not sure what happened next. One moment, Weiss was standing next to her. The next, Weiss was in front of Tyrian. A drop of blood was running down her sword. It fell like a dark jewel onto the floor.

Tyrian was holding his throat, trying to stop the blood streaming from the gash. "You … you can't – " he gasped.

"Guess I can," said Weiss. "You can die now, fucker." She punched him, and he went down. He gave a final cackle, spitting blood – and then he had departed this life.

RWBY

On the flat roof of the building, Salem had pursued Qrow, Winter and Magpie to the farthest corner. There was nowhere else to run.

"Hand over the baby, and I will let you live," said Salem. "For now."

"Screw you," snarled Winter.

"If you want it that way, then you can all die as a happy little family," said Salem. She fired a long blast of energy at them.

Together, Qrow and Winter turned away, to protect Magpie with their bodies. Qrow looked at Winter as the fire burned into their flesh. He took her hand.

"I love you both," he said.

"We know," she said.

And then they were dead.

Salem pushed aside the bodies and picked up the baby. She smiled at it; Magpie gave a gurgling cry. Salem created a fireball in her hand.

And then a blast of ice smashed into her from behind. Still holding the baby, she turned.

Ruby and Weiss had their weapons pointed at her.

"Your mad minion sprung a leak," said Weiss. "He won't be joining us."

"Looks like you've run out of henchmen," said Ruby. "So you can put the baby down. Gently."

"Or I can do this," said Salem. She held Magpie over the edge. "You have to ask yourself, which is more important, hurting me or saving the little one?"

"Good question," said Weiss. "And here is my answer. Go ahead. I will be interested to see if you can survive an ice blast at this range."

"Uh, what?" said Ruby.

And then Weiss winked at her.

Salem looked a little surprised. "Well, if you insist," she said. She let Magpie go.

In a moment, Ruby had thrown down Crescent Rose and transformed into a vortex. She went over the edge as Weiss fired.

Salem managed to deflect some of the blast but not all of it. She grunted in pain as the ice slammed into her. But she was still able to generate an energy wave that knocked Weiss back.

Weiss was up again in a moment, but Salem was already creating a portal. She stepped through. Weiss leaped after her but it was too late: the portal had closed. Weiss went tumbling through empty air.

She got to her feet and ran to the edge. She breathed a sigh of relief.

There was Ruby, waving up at her, holding an unhurt Magpie.

END (to be continued – next story: _What Friends Do_ )


End file.
